Did Saturday Night Live go too far when it made fun of Gov. David Paterson for being legally blind on Saturday? Part of the “Weekend Update” segment, cast member Fred Armisen, mocks Patterson’s blindness and when asked who should fill Hillary Clinton’s senate seat he replies: “They don’t have to be blind. It could be someone with, like, a gamey arm or the giant gums with the tiny teeth,” he says. “I’m tired of all these fancy two-eyed smart alecks from the big city running the show.”
I couldn’t post the full NBC clip here but watch this news report about Pattersons disappointment with the sketch.
Paterson’s office released a statement saying
“The governor engages in humor all the time, and he can certainly take a joke,” the statement said. “However, this particular ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit unfortunately chose to ridicule people with physical disabilities and imply that disabled people are incapable of having jobs with serious responsibilities.”
What do you think? Was this sketch tasteful or totally tacky?
National Federation of the Blind of New York spokesman Chris Danielsen says the portrayal on Saturday’s television show suggesting Paterson as befuddled and disoriented because of his blindness is “absolutely wrong.”
takepart and visit the National Federation of the Blind of New York at nfbny.org to help them change what it means to be blind and to provide a better future for our blind children and all blind people.
CATEGORIES: Culture, Ethics
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I think it could have been considered funny if the real Patterson had been there and had made a participatory satire as well-but it seemed somewhat funny and yet over the edge
As a blind person who had the SNL skit described to me, I found very little about which to be offended. I have in fact found myself “geographically confused” more than once, and have even displayed a graphic upside-down in a meeting. I think that blind activists have seized upon this as an opportunity to bring issues of blindness (such as ridiculously high unemployment of the blind) to the forefront. Frankly, I found the skit to be funny not for the blindness jokes but for the characterization of Patterson; his cocaine use history and his comments about New Jersey, the (admittedly cheap) blind jokes notwithstanding. I would say to my militant blind brothers…lighten up.
Shameless and sick.
Funny is funny. If it makes me laugh, then it is ok. If people can make fun of blacks and Chinese, etc, then why is anything else off limits. All or nothing, I say. If that was no good, then someone needs to apologize to me for a decade of the Sopranos making fun of my heritage.
Funny is funny. Everyone has something funny about them. If he is going to be in the public eye he should get a thicker skin. Maybe it was the fact that the coke jokes hit too close to home.,,
Absolutely loved it, more of it. LOL. LMAO!